Concerns have been raised that the Government’s attempts to combat extremist Islamic ideologies has led to other threats from white supremacist groups not being prioritised.

Following the deadly attack at two mosques in Christchurch, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the people arrested in relation to the attack were not on any terrorism watch list or being monitored by the police, reports stuff.co.nz.

Security expert Dr Paul Buchanan told Stuff that since the September 11 attacks in the United States in 2001, our Government’s response, along with the rest of Western world, has been to try and stamp out radical Islamic ideology and threats.

This had led to a ‘misdirected prioritisation of perceived threats’, he said.

‘[The Government] simply did not think a white supremacist could be capable of this and hence paid much less attention and red flags eminating from these guys,’ he said.

‘[The Government] certainly weren’t complacent monitoring the Muslim community, but something has got to give in a world of finite resources.

‘If you’re going to squeeze the balloon in one direction it is going to lose air in another ... we seem to have dropped the ball on violent white supremacists.’

Police Commissioner Mike Bush said at a briefing on Saturday morning that questions were rightly being asked about how the attack was not foreseen.

‘The investigation into the intelligence failures is also a priority,’ he said.

It is the New Zealand Security Intelligence Agency (NZSIS) compiles the terrorism watch list, with the help of the wider intelligence community.

According to the agency’s most recent annual report, the watch list is made up of 30 to 40 people who are seen to pose a risk to New Zealand’s national security.

‘This number is not static. As investigations into individuals of interest are resolved or their activities of concern diminish, other individuals of interest emerge,’ the report said.

According to the report, the majority of leads in the 2017-2018 time period were linked to ISIS.

There was no mention of white supremacist threats in the report. However, it did mention the difficulty the intelligence community has with stopping attackers who plan in a short timeframe.

‘While the NZSIS and law enforcement counterparts work hard to identify and mitigate threats, it is possible that an isolated individual, unknown to these agencies, could be inspired to carry out a terrorist act in New Zealand.’

International intelligence agency’s assisted New Zealand with providing information about the people on the watch list, Buchanan said.

‘A lot of the leads are developed by our foreign partners, particularly the Australians who identify residents who may have travelled abroad to somewhere like Syria.’

The agencies monitor certain types of language used on social media, which may indicate someone was planning an attack, Buchanan said.

One example of someone on the list is the ‘Kiwi Jihadi’ Mark Taylor, according to Buchanan.

While the alleged shooter in Christchurch is believed to have been posting on social media in the days leading up to the attack, it was unlikely his posts would have been picked up.

‘The priority has been the threat of jihadists and the language they use,’ Buchanan said.

‘In this instance, it seems to me [the NZSIS] did not programme in the kind of language used by violent white supremacist.’

Human rights lawyer Deborah Manning said questions needed to be asked why the alleged attackers were not being watched.

‘We are obviously in the immediate shock of what has happened and dealing with the grief and trauma,’ she said.

‘The question as to why the attackers were not on the radar speaks to a very serious problem as to who is being looked at.’

Manning told Stuff she had been working with the Islamic community for a number of years to try and alert authorities, and the wider community, to the rise of ‘Islamophobia’.

‘This is a community feeling unfairly victimised and under suspicion and now they are facing the tragedy of being victims,’ she said.

‘These are all issues and questions we need to be looking at. Why these attackers were not on the radar and why the community, which has been under the most suspicion, are the victims of this.

‘That is the hardest question and a question we need to brave enough to ask.’